Two Sacramento Homes Closed on Tuesday

As good fortune has it, I managed to close two more escrows yesterday, which resulted in another two Sacramento homes closed. I’m on a streak this week. One closing was a home in Land Park, a cottage in Upper Land Park. We weren’t too certain that the buyers were closing when they signed the purchase contract. I’m not sure what the hesitation was about, but when I have that gut feeling, I listen to it. The sellers had made a deal with the buyers that we would not change the status in MLS from active to pending until the buyers removed their inspection contingencies. They had already been there and done that when a previous buyer had developed cold feet a few days into escrow. So, we left the listing as active, pending rescission, for a few weeks.

The strangest thing happens when a buyer spots pending rescission as a status modifier on an active listing. It’s like a switch goes off in their heads. Like, maybe they ate Chinese food and an hour later are starving. They might not ever want to look at this home, but the minute they see somebody else might want it, they are desperate to buy it, and it doesn’t seem to matter what it is or where it is located. As a result, we had a decent back-up offer within days, just in case the existing offer went sideways.

But the offer didn’t go sideways. The buyers removed their contingencies and we closed, just like clockwork. The sellers are ecstatic and so are the buyers.

In the second escrow, well, what can I say? It was an Elk Grove short sale that had emerged from bankruptcy. It was a short sale that should have closed last year. We received a perfect offer, after a few others blew up, and our new buyer was willing to mow the lawn, turn on the utilities, and even replace the electrical meter and A/C unit, which had been swiped. The only problem was we could not close because we did not have the final discharge from a previous bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was discharged two years ago, but it was never closed out in the court.

How much of a problem can that be? Huge.

The lawyer told us it would take 30 days. Every month, she was hopeful the file would close out. Except it did not close out. We finally tracked down the Trustee of the Court to get the straight scoop. The trustee had to send out notices, wait 3 months for checks to clear, along with a bunch of other court-related stuff. It took us 8 long months to close out the bankruptcy, which had already been discharged. If a lawyer tells you a bankruptcy will close out in 30 days, you might want to get a second opinion, just sayin.

The buyer was a trooper. He really wanted this house. So, did a bunch of other people who continually wrote and called and begged to be a back-up offer. We’ll pay cash, they cried. We’ll wash your car for a year. No, not really, but that was the unspoken sentiment. I waited for the chocolate-covered strawberries to arrive at my office, along with a bottle of champagne, but it never came.

I’m pretty lucky, when our buyers go into escrow, they tend to stay there.

Every Sacramento real estate closing is different. That’s what makes this business so much fun and exciting. Some closings you pull out your hair. Some, you don’t. But at least these two Sacramento homes closed without any further drama.

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